A Sandwich a Day: Veal Tongue at El Rawsheh

In this great city of ours, one could eat a different sandwich every day of the year—so that's what we'll do. Here's A Sandwich a Day, our daily look at sandwiches around New York. Got a sandwich we should check out? Let us know.—The Mgmt.

[Photograph: Max Falkowitz]

Take a bite without knowing and you might guess it's lamb shoulder, subtly gamey and deeply tender with soft striations of fat. But there's a darker, more mineral quality to the meat, a funk that, come your second bite, you realize could only come from tongue. This is one of the more approachable applications of the muscle out there.

The wrap ($6) is balanced by sharp juicy pickles, both the turnips and tiny cucumbers that frequently accompany Lebanese sandwiches, and for an extra 50 cents you can get a welcome squirt of tart yogurt to round out the meat.

With its lackluster pita and some underwhelming grilled items, El Rawsheh is not on the top of my list for Lebanese sandwiches in Astoria—Homemade Falafel and Cedars rank higher. But it has the best tongue—Lebanese or otherwise—I've enjoyed in sandwich form in some time, and is a good stop to know on Steinway Street.

El Rawsheh

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As a native of Queens, New York, Max developed an early hunger for dosas, dumplings, and Korean barbecue. Now he explores the city's evolving international food world by day and night. When not slurping noodles over a rickety table, he's in the kitchen tinkering with his ice cream maker on a never-ending quest to develop the best ice cream-making techniques.